


boots

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, a tiny bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 08:57:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7354336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith stared in surprise as the brunette crawled over to the end of the bed. He let Lance pull one of his legs into his lap, the blue paladin tugging gently at the laces, silently asking for permission. “I promise you’ll have time to put your shoes back on if something goes wrong. But tonight, you get to relax. I’m here to protect you, after all.”</p>
<p>In which Lance discovers Keith sleeps with a full set of clothes on and decides to remedy the situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	boots

**Author's Note:**

> all my serious ideas somehow get scrapped, so here is some klance fluff.  
> (shoutout to Uma for helping me out)

Keith was on the brink of falling asleep when he heard the door to his room slide open, accompanied by a small scuffling of footsteps. His eyes immediately snapped open, rolling over even as his hand instinctively reached for his knife. Instead of coming face-to-face with an enemy, however, he found himself squinting up at a familiar brunette with his arms crossed over blue pajamas.

“Hey, sorry if I woke you up,” Lance was doing his best to whisper, although his voice still echoed around the room. He looked a little uncomfortable, awkwardly leaning over Keith’s bed as he clutched his pillow to his chest. He had his eye mask pushed up onto his head as he blinked down at Keith. The red paladin exhaled, moving his hand away from his knife in silent relief.

Pulling himself into a sitting position, Keith raised a confused eyebrow at the other teen. Lance usually avoided Keith’s room like the plague, so it didn’t make much sense why he’d just invited himself in now. Especially in the middle of the night. Was it the middle of the night? Keith didn’t exactly have a watch or a clock in his room, plus they were drifting through space where Earth-time didn’t really count…he realized he was starting to zone out and focused back on Lance.

“I was just hearing some weird noises and got a little worried that, ya know, something might be up with the ship or something like before, which I  _ know  _ it isn’t haunted, but the potential is still there, so,” Lance’s free arm was practically flailing as he tried to gesture along with his blabbering.

Keith waited a moment before responding with, “So…what’s the problem again?”

Coughing a little, Lance inched closer to his bed, squeezing his pillow tighter. “I mean, there’s no problem, I was just getting a tiny bit freaked out and didn’t want to be  _ totally  _ by myself, which is fine but also a little scary, if you know what I mean.”

Even in the dark, Keith could make out Lance’s cheeks darkening by a couple of shades. He sighed, catching on to what the blue paladin was trying to get at. Keith wasn’t one to share a sleeping space with somebody else, but it  _ was  _ stupid Lance who probably wouldn’t leave him alone anytime soon.

“Um…do you want to sleep here tonight then?” Keith tried to keep his voice deadpan, although as soon as he heard the words leave his mouth he started feeling oddly embarrassed. Shameless as ever, Lance immediately catapulted himself onto the bed, forcing Keith to scoot over in surprise. “Wow, thanks man, you don’t know what a relief that is, I’m used to sleeping with other people so things have been weird lately.” Lance beamed at him and Keith just awkwardly coughed in response.  

They shared something akin to a staring contest in the dark before Lance plopped his pillow down next to Keith’s. He flopped his head onto it, pulling Keith’s blanket over him as though he were settling down in his own bed. “Goodnight, then.” Lance cheerily said, before pulling his eye mask down over his face and rolling over.

Keith let a sigh escape past his lips. It was such typical Lance behavior, wasn’t it? But it was nice to get along with him once in awhile. The dark haired teen eased himself back under the blankets too, resting his head back onto his pillow.

Half a second later, Lance rolled over to face him and yanked up the eye mask. His eyes were narrowed suspiciously as he glared at Keith, nose only inches away from the other teen’s.

“Uh, what?” Keith felt a little nervous asking. He felt Lance’s foot brush against his leg.  

“What do you mean what? Is my foot touching a shoe right now? Are you wearing your boots in  _ bed?”  _ The blue paladin sounded scandalized, his nose scrunching up in horror.

Keith glared back, feeling defensive. “What’s the problem? We don’t know when we’ll have to respond to danger at a moment’s notice. Now I don’t have to waste time when it matters.”

Lips parted in disbelief, Lance sat up and tugged the blankets off of them both. Keith grabbed at them, tugging back with a scowl. They both pulled in different directions for a long moment before Keith finally rolled his eyes and gave up.

“You have boots, a belt, and your gloves on,” Lance looked him up and down with an incredulous expression. “You can’t be serious.”

Keith stared back with a resolute pout. He knew that most people didn’t sleep like that, sure. He knew that Lance probably thought he was weird. But it was a matter of personal security, it had been for years. So what if it was uncomfortable? Safety mattered more than comfort.

Instead of the jibe that Keith was expecting, Lance sat back with a small frown.  “Keith, do you always feel like you’re in danger?”

It was startling to realize that Lance was asking a serious question. But if he was being honest…

“Yes, I do. Because I  _ am  _ always in danger. We all are.” Keith couldn’t keep eye contact with the other boy, instead focusing on an empty spot on the bed. “I don’t think there’s ever been a time I haven’t been in danger. I won’t let anyone take me by surprise again.”

“Again?” Lance’s eyes were wide, his voice a low whisper. Keith flushed as he realized what he had said. Lance didn’t know anything about his past and Keith had never shared much about it with anyone. He didn’t think he was ready to describe to Lance how he witnessed his own mother die before barely escaping with his own life. How he could only run like a coward in the middle of the night, leaving the only parent he had behind. He might’ve been a kid when it happened, but it didn’t change the facts. He wasn’t going to let it happen all over again because he was defenseless.

Lance must’ve interpreted the look on his face, because he suddenly reached out, grabbing Keith’s hand. It was warm, Keith dumbly thought as he looked at their joined hands. Lance’s fingers were soft, even if they were thin and angular. They both sat in silence like that for a while before Keith cleared his throat. “You’re holding my hand,” Keith commented out loud, half questioning it with a little smile.

Sputtering a little, Lance pulled his hand away. “It wasn’t like  _ that _ , okay, I just…here, give me this.” Keith stared in surprise as the brunette crawled over to the end of the bed. He let Lance pull one of his legs into his lap, the blue paladin tugging gently at the laces, silently asking for permission. “I promise you’ll have time to put your shoes back on if something goes wrong. But tonight, you get to relax. I’m here to protect you, after all.”

Keith took in Lance’s serious face, the brunette sitting on his bed and clutching his foot, fingers tangled with the laces.

And then he burst into laughter. It was sincere, eyes crinkling as he threw his head back and laughed. The blue paladin looked taken aback for a moment before he broke into a smile too.

“Hey, don’t laugh, I meant it! People with mullets can’t judge me!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say,” Keith wiped at his eyes a little, surprised at himself for laughing that hard.

Lance was almost always ridiculous, that much was true. But there were moments of sincerity mixed in, ones that actually made him likable. It was a side of Lance that Keith loved seeing.

“So, can I?” Lance pouted a little as he shook Keith’s foot as a reminder. The dark haired teen nodded, and Lance began to undo the laces. Keith silently watched him work, studying the other boy’s features.

Were Lance’s eyelashes always that long? Or his nose curved the slightest bit upwards at the end? It gave him almost an elfish look sometimes, combined with his finely curved eyebrows, but…it was cute. Keith internally backpedaled, tearing his gaze off of Lance and looking at his boots instead. Lance wasn’t cute, he was mildly annoying. In an endearing way, maybe.

After a long minute, Lance successfully tugged off both of his boots, revealing Keith’s sock covered feet. He was expecting Lance to leave it at that, but he almost jumped in surprise when Lance climbed over him, pushing him flat against the bed. “The belt has to go too, belts are  _ not  _ pajama wear.”  

Keith just nodded as Lance’s fingers nimbly unbuckled his belt, sliding the strap off and shoving it onto the nightstand. The position felt oddly intimate, with Lance practically sitting on top of him.

“Gloves?” Lance poked at one of his hands, picking at the black fabric. Keith sighed, pulling his gloves off and obediently handing them over to the brunette. Lance put them on the nightstand too before shifting back onto his side of the bed, grinning at Keith.

“All done, that wasn’t so bad,” he teasingly patted Keith’s arm. The red paladin just huffed a little, leaning over to retrieve the blanket that Lance had tugged off before.

“You’re so demanding sometimes,” he grumbled a little as he arranged the blanket back onto the bed. They both settled back into their original spots, Lance pulling his eye mask down and hugging his pillow.

He felt something brush against his leg, realizing that Lance’s foot was nudging his. He pushed back with his own, the two of them waging a silent war under the blankets as they kicked at each other. Lance didn’t take his eye mask off, but Keith could see the wide smile on his face.

“What, you’re on my side of the bed!” the brunette whined, as though he wasn’t already taking up three quarters of the bed. Keith just reached out and pinched his nose, causing the other teen to flail around. “This entire thing is my bed, there’s no such thing as your side in the first place!” Keith grinned as Lance swatted him away, a big pout on his face.

“You can’t take advantage of someone wearing an eye mask like that, it’s unfair!” Lance pushed the mask up with one hand to glare at Keith. The red paladin innocently rolled over, glad that Lance couldn’t see his expression.

It only took about ten minutes for Lance to actually fall asleep. Keith knew it the instant he started to hear little snores. He sighed, rolling back over to glare at the other teen. Lance’s arms were splayed out, mouth half-open as he snored. His eye mask had been pushed up to his forehead, nose pressed up against the pillow. Overall, it was entirely unflattering – and kind of amazing that he had gotten into that position so quickly after falling asleep – but it made Keith smile anyway. He supposed he could forgive the snoring, for now.

That night, he slept peacefully for the first time in weeks.   
  


**Author's Note:**

> my hcs for keith change daily, but i'm still assuming he had his mother when he was little. i'm sorry for the brief moment of angst, although i figured there's more to keith sleeping with his shoes on and a knife than meets the eye.  
> pls scream at me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/spaceiwa)


End file.
